Oil burner



May 25 1926. 1,585,850

D. R. GLASS OIL BURNER Filed August 1925 Patented May 25, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID R. GLASS, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

' OIL BURNER.

Application filed August 23, 1923. Serial No. 658,918.

' thereto.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide an oil burner that will feed oil of any grade, however high in viscosity, with out the aid of compression or gravity.

Another object is to provide an oil burner that will produce an intense heat without carbonizing the fuel supply and clogging the passages in said burner, and; without producing a reflex heat that would injure said burner.

Another object is to provide an oil burner that is compact, and independent of preheaters, superheaters, Vaporizers, blowers and other. mechanical devices that would add to the expense and complexity without contributing to the efficiency of the burner.

Another object is to provide an oil burner of few parts, simple of construction and installation, and economical in first cost and maintenance.

A still further object is to provide an oil burner that is immune to backpressure, backfire, and internal explosions, and that will consume the fuel without smoke, odor, carbon monoxide or other deleterious products of combustion.

To these ends, I have provided a nozzle in which the members are scientifically related, and which is capable of accomplishing the foregoing objects.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side View of the nozzle and generator applied to a furnace; and Figure 2 is a sectional detail view of the burner.

The numeral 1 represents a fire-box, 2 the grate bars therein, 3 a firing pan, 4 a genera-1 tor, shown for the purpose of illustration, which is to become the subject of a separate patent, 5 bosses or knobs, 6 water-supply pipe, 7 pressure-medium supply pipe, 8 fuelsupply pipe, 9 pressure gauge, 10 safety valve, 11 the nozzle or burner, 12 dischargeopening, 13 oil chamber, 14 threaded intake of oil feed, 15 inner nozzle member, 15' pressure-means inlet of 15, 16 threaded connection of inner nozzle member with outer nozzle member, 17 tapered pressure medium chamber, 18 atomizer tip, and 18 mixing chamber.

The nozzle is preferably cast in two parts,

regulated by a suitable valve in the pipe 8.

um discharge as shown in Figure2, and assembled by the I threads 16. The inner member 15 is screwed into its permanent position, as in Figure 2, so that the atomizer tip 18 shall extend about its own length beyond the outlet of the oil chamber 13, and there remain. (In this respect this invention differs from those burners in which the members are subject to varying adjustment.) Steam, or other pressure-medium, entering the inner nozzle-- member 15 is, by its initial force, compressed within the tapering chamber thereof 17, and discharged through the atomizertip '18 into the mixing chamber 18' with accelerated velocity, thus producing a vacuum which draws the fuel oil from its source, through the pipe 8 and the fuel-oil chamber 13. The quantity of oil used is (not shown) The oil and pressure-medium, thus united, are expelled through the vacu- 12 in a stream that widens and expands therefrom. The process hereinabove described also breaks up the oil mole cules within the burner; if an excessive amount of oil is fed to the burner, the surplus is cracked in the fire-pot, upon contact with the refractory materials therein.

It should be notedthat the inner nozzlemember contains three subordinate members, each of which contributes to the operation of the burner. The pressure-medium first enters the plain cylindrical outer chamber, which is approximately one-half the length of said inner member, and is compressed within the confined interiorly-tapering walls of .the chamber 17, before being then forced through the narrow confines of the atomizer-tip 18, from which it bursts with great force through the mixing chamber 18' of the outer nozzle member into the fire-box 1. This construction makes unnecessary any very high pressure of the steam, and enables the use of a very moder-' ate pressure-medium. The mixing chamber 18' is approximately the same length asthe tapered chamber 17, and approximately onethird the length of the entire nozzle. Being cylindrical in form and of the same diameter throughout, with its discharge opening 12 of exactly the same diameter, it forms an ideal vacuum chamber. The atomizer tip 18 consists of a bafie or stopper at theouter extremity of the tapered compression chamber 17, in the nature of a spud approximately one-sixth of the length of the tapered chamber 17, with an aperture therethrough of a diameter about one-eighth of that of the mixing chamber. It may be integral with said tapered portion or attachable thereto by screw-threads or otherwise. The said atomizer tip is located slightly in advance of the fuel supply opening, in the mixing chamber, and its discharge into said chamber being approximately one-fifth of the distance from said fuel supply opening to the discharge outlet 12 of said mixing chamber. To this tip I am indebted in no small degree for the successful operation of my oil burner; and to its position is due the immunity from back-pressure and other possibility of misdirection of the force involved. The mixing chamber 18, by reason of its shape and proportions, supplements, perfectly, the other members, for experience has conclusively shown the superiority of the uniform cylinder, over the types wherein that member is flattened, tapering, flaring, or otherwise different from the one herein described. Then, too, a mixing chamber that is too long or too short in proportion to its diameter lacks the beneficial effect achieved by the one which I have shown.

The particular relativity described, of the members comprising the nozzle or burner, is responsible for the strong suction obtained, which prohibits the contingencies of backpressure, backfire and their consequent explosions. With the powerful and continuous suction thus obtained, a finely-regulated modicum of fuel oil may be drawn from a distance, and even raised to a considerable height. It will be noted that there is no possible accumulation of oil in either the pipe or the burner. The degree of viscosity possessed by the oil is immaterial, so long as it is at all fluent, for the nozzle, where it contacts with the oil, is not hot enough to preheat the oil and separate the carbon therefrom. The burner need not project into the fire-pot, the flame is always several inches distant from the burner, and its impulse is such as to protect the burner from heat.

That there can be no clogging of the burner is obvious, for it is self-cleaning. The vacuum feature continuously clears the fuel chamber of every particle drawn thereinto; and, the normal position of the burner being flat (as in Figure 1), and the oil pipe leading thereto vertically below the same, there is no opportunity for anything to lodge in either.

The compactness and simplicity of this burner are noteworthy, as reducing production cost and facilitating installation. Experience shows that an oil burner of this type not over four inches in length, when operated in connection with the generator shown, is equally capable of operating a boiler for machine power, or of heating a kitchen range, with no further adjustment than a regulation of the fuel supply.

Combustion is aided by the atomizing feature, which vaporizes the oil and supplies oxygen. Additional oxygen is drawn into the fire box through ,the aperture by which the burner introduces the fuel thereinto. A maximum supply of heat is thereby obtained from a minimum supply of fuel. Under these circumstances, smoke, odors and poisonous gases are impossible and the development of heat units to a very high degree is facilitated. Fuel consumption, by reason of the perfect combustion achieved, is reduced to a surprising degree, as the oil is fed by the drop when desired, and in a stream only when necessary. The economy of operation is thus apparent. In addition to this, it should be noted that a very cheap grade of crude oil can be utilized to good effect. The burner will carry any fuel, from kerosene to 14 graivity; in fact, refuse oil from engine cylinders has given very good results.

The proportions of the oil burner, as shown in the drawings, are those which, by experiment, have proven advantageous and are preferred; although some slight variations may be employed to the same ends. Similarly, the steam generator is shown in its preferred form, as an illustration of the principle whereby a small volume of steam at a suitable pressure may be automatically delivered to the burner nozzle; but my invention is not limited to any specific type of construction.

I claim:

1. An oil-burner comprising a body having a passage extending therethrough tapering adjacent its mid-portion and terminating in a restricted mixing-chamber of equal diameter throughout its length, a fuel-conduit parallel to said passage through said body, having -a tapering conduit extending therefrom into said passage at a point near the terminus of said tapered portion of the body, and a steam-jet nozzle carried by said body and terminating in a tapered portion and a restricted discharge-orifice of equal diameter throughout its length which extends into said mixing-chamber.

2. An oil-burner comprising a conduit for a pressure-medium, an interiorly-tapering portion terminating in a restricted orifice, a fuel-supply chamber, a fuel-supply opening, a mixing chamber having a dischargeopening at the outer end thereof; said interiorly-tapering portion and said mixingchamber being of approximately the same length, said restricted orifice being approximately one-fifth as long as either of the foregoing members, and its discharge approximately as far in advance of the fuelsupply opening as would equal one-fifth the length of said mixing-chamber, said mixingchamber being approximately one-third the length of the entire structure, cylindrical in form and of uniform diameter With its discharge-opening; and said oil-burner being capable of discharging a pressure-medium through said restricted orifice into said mixing chamber and creating a suction capable of drawing into said mixing-chamber a predetermined quantity of fuel-oil and of atomizing and expelling the same from the discharge-opening.

3. An oil-burner having a passage extending longitudinally therethrough, tapering adjacent its mid-portion and terminating in a restricted mixing-chamber of equal diam eter throughout its length, a fuel-conduit parallel to said passage, having a tapering conduit extending therefrom into said passage at a point anterior to the terminus of said tapered portion, and a pressure-medium nozzle carried by said body, terminating in a tapered portion and a restricted dis charge-orifice of equal diameter throughout its length, which extends into said mixingchamber. V

In testimony whereof I have atfixed my signature.

DAVID R. GLASS. 

